15 August 2018 (UNHCR)* – UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency applauds 14 August 2018’s decision by the Government of Malta to permit the disembarkation of 141 asylum-seekers and migrants rescued on the Central Mediterranean by an NGO boat, the Aquarius.

13 August, 2018 (UN Women)* – Eight years. Since the start of the conflict, the Syrian crisis has displaced more than 6.6 million people internally and seen more than 5.6 million Syrians scattering across its borders.

Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. Photo: UN Women/Christopher Herwig

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The protracted humanitarian crisis in Syria has devastating consequences for women and girls. From food insecurity to loss of educational opportunities, lack of safe water or health services, and high rates of gender-based violence, women and girls are facing the brunt of the crisis. In 69 per cent of communities, early marriage is reported as a concern.

16 August 2018 (UN Environment)* – One year ago, on 16 August 2017, the Minamata Convention on Mercury – a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds – came into force.

Mercury is a natural element: it is found in the Earth’s crust and naturally released through volcanic activity and weathering of rocks.

It exists in various forms, each with a varying degree of toxicity but all equally harmful, affecting the nervous system, the brain, the heart, the kidneys, the lungs and the immune system of all living beings.

The many life-threatening dangers faced by children from Central America who are being deported from the United States of America and Mexico, are highlighted in a new report from United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on 15 August 2018, which also draws attention to the traumatic consequences of family separation by migration authorities.

With the death toll rising after days of intense fighting for the Afghan city of Ghazni, south-west of Kabul, the Head of the United Nations mission in the country (UNAMA) on 15 August 2018 said that the situation was “unacceptable” and called on warring parties to lay down their arms and seek a political solution to the conflict.

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UNICEF/UNI152469/Dragaj | A young girl looks through a paneless window frame near Kabul, in Afghanistan, 2013. Civlilians in Afghanistan have borne the brunt of an almost 20 years of conflict.

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“The Taliban’s attack against Ghazni city, and the subsequent fighting in densely populated urban spaces, has again caused terrible suffering to civilians caught in the conflict,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, in a statement.

15 August 2018 – The decision by Israel to reopen the only functional commercial crossing point into Gaza which has been closed to most deliveries for weeks, has been welcomed by the United Nations Secretary-General.

UN Photo | Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza, May 2018.

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UN humanitarians expect some 400 truckloads of goods will now be able to enter Gaza after the Kerem Shalom crossing became operational on Wednesday [15 August 2018] morning; roughly a month after it was largely closed by Israel in response to attacks by Palestinians in the enclave, which is controlled by Hamas militants, and deadly mass-protests at the border fence against Israeli policies.

15 August 2018 – The court decision to award nearly $290 million to a terminally-ill man from the United States who claimed his cancer was caused by a herbicide in a commercial weed killer, has been welcomed by two United Nations human rights experts as a “significant recognition” of the responsibilities that chemical companies have to consumers.

UN News | UN experts said the $290 million jury award to a terminally-ill American on 10 August, 2018, who claimed his cancer was caused by a Monsanto manufactured weed killer, was a significant recognition of victims human rights.

A court in California on Friday ruled that chemical giant Monsanto should compensate Dewayne Johnson, a school groundskeeper, after a jury found the company did not place a warning label on its weed killers, stating that their widespread use could cause terminal cancer.